Nothing Compares

For some reason I just remembered this morning that a song that is full of nostalgia for me was written by Prince, who died last week. The version I still have on vinyl was a huge hit for Sinead O’Connor in 1990:

Incidentally, I once saw Sinead O’Connor in person at the Zap Club in Brighton during my previous incarnation here as a research student and postdoc. I literally bumped into her trying to get to the bar to buy a drink. When she turned around I was staggered to see such a beautiful face looking at me, although to be honest I did for a moment assume she was a boy. It was, I should explain, a gay night at the club. Fortunately she was very nice and friendly and forgave my clumsiness with a gracious smile.

There aren’t many any other pop videos done like this, almost entirely in close-up. Can anyone think of any others?

There’s a great story that Prince invited Sinead to his home after hearing her version of Nothing Compares. At some point in the evening, he foolishly suggested that she moderate her language during media interviews whereupon she told him to feck right off. Apparently the two tiny stars nearly came to blows, had to be separated by bodyguards!

Two people with differing views on religion can be quite dangerous! Like Michael Jackson, Prince was a Jehova’s Witness (though he converted—or, as he called it, more a realization than a conversion—to it as an adult). Perhaps not the best choice for such an athletic performer. From Wikipedia: “Prince had needed double hip-replacement surgery since 2005 but would not undergo the operation unless it was a bloodless surgery, because Jehovah’s Witnesses typically do not accept blood products. The condition was caused by repeated onstage dancing in high-heeled boots. Prince had been using canes as part of his outfit from the early 1990s onwards; towards the end of his life when he regularly walked with a cane in public engagements, this led to speculation that it resulted from not having the surgery.” (Emphasis added.)

Despite her famous public disputes with the Catholic church (at the beginning, she was dismissed as a loony, for example when tearing up a photo of the Pope on television and complaining about child abuse, though now it is common knowledge that there has been systematic sexual abuse in the Catholic church and that this was tolerated by the higher-ups), she is religious in her own way, having a prominent tattoo of J.C. on her chest and is an ordained priest in the Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church.